OF SORROW BORN: the solo music of Michael Hersch

“A natural musical genius who continues to surpass himself” (The Washington Post), Michael Hersch writes “works that are often startling in their complexity, beauty and demonic fury” (The New York Times). Also an accomplished pianist known for his “astounding facility at the keyboard” (International Piano), the composer joins two of the foremost interpreters of his music, violinist Miranda Cuckson and cellist Coleman Itzkoff, for a program of his work for solo instruments at New York’s DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Featuring his own work in live performance, the concert marks Hersch’s first public performance in NYC as a pianist in more than seven years. Coleman Itzkoff, a cellist known for his “flawless technique and keen musicality” (The New Yorker) performs from Hersch's Sonata No. 2 for Unaccompanied Cello, and violinist Miranda Cuckson performs his of sorrow born - seven elegies. The New York Times noted after hearing the violinist in Hersch's work that, “Ms. Cuckson was in her element here. It would be hard to imagine this music played more vividly.”

When Hersch last performed his own music in New York alongside Cuckson, the event was named among the “Top Ten Performances of 2018” by New York Classical Review, writing that "both players tested the limits of tonal range and virtuosity on their instruments, while exploring mostly the darker side of human experience."

Hersch has premiered a number of his own compositions, including The Vanishing Pavilions, which the The New York Times considers “an extraordinary musical experience and a pianistic masterpiece.” Of his first account of the evening-length work, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported: “He conjured volcanic gestures from the piano with astonishing virtuosity. The evening felt downright historic.”

At the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Hersch not only reprises selections from The Vanishing Pavilions but also gives the world premiere of a new piano piece. Titled Es beginnt, this is one of two new works inspired by the poetry of Anja Utler, whose 2023 collection Es beginnt: Trauerrefrain documents a deep intellectual and emotional crisis.

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Host or Publisher AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company)